Laurenzo's Italian Restaurant, an Iconic, Nostalgic place in an ever changing community. 

The Laurenzo family story began with the birth of Ben's father, Achilles Luarenzo in 1885, in a small town in the Province of Abruzzo..
Ben's mother, Estherina Cassella, was born in 1890 in Alvigano.
In 1909, Achilles and Estherina were married. The union was blessed with seven children, Eunice, Dorothy, Theodore, Isabelle, Achilles Jr., Benito, and Esther. Seeking to better the life of his family, Achilles went to work at the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, New York. Rising to the position of shop foreman, it was there that Achilles worked for the U.S. war effort, building army tanks and locomotives.
Meanwhile, mother Estherina, attended night school, learned how to speak perfect English and became a competent successful real estate salesperson.
Ben was born on September 18, 1928. His early years were family and home oriented. All work in and around the house, a large three story home with 8 bedrooms, was performed by family members. As the children got older they painted buildings, repaired roofs, hung wallpaper, and laid concrete, all in the effort to earn money.
Also, many summer hours were spent at the family farm on the outskirts of town where many family members and relatives each planted one acre of ground with tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplant, broccoli rabe, dandelion, basil, etc. “If it grew” they planted it. Weekends at the farm during harvest time was a festival and everyone enjoyed beer, homemade wine, fresh clams, fresh corn and whatever else was ripe at the time. Most summer weekends there would be 40-60 family members at the farm where everyone either played poker, bocce, hit golf balls, played softball, or just hiked in the woods. (The farm was approximately 80 acres) 
Once a year a family reunion was held and when Ben left to come to South Florida (Miami) in 1951, there were 300 relatives attending the reunion, up to second cousins.
In the summer and fall, many days, the family would prepare, can and preserve the winter provisions – tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, fruit preserves. Sausage was made and dried, cheese also made and dried for grating. Red wine and elderberry wine was made and stored in cellar. Even coffee roasted over a small fire in the yard. It seems Ben was being prepared for a lifetime in the grocery food business.
Meanwhile, as WWII surrounded the country, Theodore, Isabelle (army nurse captain) and Achilles Jr. went off to war.
In 1944 Ben tried to enlist in the Merchant Marines (at age 15), but his brother Achilles came home on leave and when the family told him of Ben's intention, he went to New York City to locate Ben and persuaded him to return home.
Achilles (Kelley) was stationed on the USS Nashville, a U.S. cruiser and it was hit by a Kamikaze plane. Kelley survived but lost 200 buddies that day. Shortly thereafter, Ben changed his birth certificate and enlisted in the Navy at the age of 16.
He took his boot camp training in Sampson, NY and then was assigned to the oldest battleship in the fleet, the USS Arkansas. There were in Seattle, WA, preparing for the invasion of Japan when the atomic bomb was dropped and Japan surrendered.
Most of the following years, the ship did “Magic Carpet” duty of returning Veterans from the South Pacific to California. Needless to say by this time Ben had his fill of Navy live so when the opportunity arrived for an early discharge he jumped for it. One little obstacle remained. He became a volunteer to help take the battleship to Bikini, Atoll for the atomic bomb tests that were held in 1946, with the promise of discharge if they came back. Upon discharge he completed High School and got a part time job with Food Wholesalers, while attending Albany Business College.
Ben's father retired in 1949 and moved to Miami, Florida. Ben visited him in the winter of 1950 and moved down in 1951 with his brothers and sisters and their families. They went into business operating a small retail and wholesale outlet at the corner of N.W. 17th Avenue and N.W. 7th Street. Ben's job was loading a truck with Italian Specialty merchandise and vending it to local restaurants. When N.W. 17th Avenue was being widened, the business was moved to 49th Street and 32nd Avenue in Hialeah. They concentrated on the wholesale business. Ben then became a salesman, selling Miami, Miami Beach, Hollywood and Ft. Lauderdale restaurants and hotels. A few years later they sold the business to Prince Macaroni Co. and became Prince Famous Foods of Florida. Ben worked for Prince for a couple of years and then decided to reopen Laurenzo Brothers. By this time he had established a strong wholesale customer base that extended from Homestead to Jupiter. Ben's heart however belonged to the retail business so in 1964 he got involved in a joint venture with Nick Lotito and John DiPuma that became Lourenzo's.
Laurenzo's features a pasta shop, wine department, bakery, prepared foods, cafeteria, deli, Italian ice, prime meats, seafood, sandwich shop, organic foods and Farmer's Market as well as imported foods from Italy, Greece, Japan, China, Thailand, Israel, France, Germany, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, Switzerland, Holland, England and Belgium. They are located at 16385 West Dixie Highway in North Miami Beach, you can call David at 305-945-6381 or visit their web site at www.laurenzosmarket.com.